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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24380353">The subtle art of caring</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/madonna_and_whore/pseuds/madonna_and_whore'>madonna_and_whore</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cuddling &amp; Snuggling, F/F, Pre-Canon, Sickfic, Vomiting</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 01:35:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,905</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24380353</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/madonna_and_whore/pseuds/madonna_and_whore</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Adora gets sick. </p><p>Catra gets sick.</p><p>That's it, that's the fic they both get sick on different occasions before Adora leaves the Horde. They both try to take care of each other even they both hate being seen as weak.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adora/Catra (She-Ra)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>240</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Adora</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I just wrote a super good note but then ao3 deleted it so now you're getting the abridged version because its 2am and I have work in 6 hours.</p><p>Hope you enjoy my fic, as the description says, next chapter will be about Catra getting sick, but like different sick.</p><p>Also this chapter does have vomiting in, so if you hate that kind of stuff maybe skip this one and come back when I've uploaded chapter 2</p><p>Anyways, let's get on with it</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first sign is during training one grey day in the Fright Zone.</p><p> </p><p>(Although, Catra thinks to herself, is there any other type of day in the Fright Zone?)</p><p> </p><p>Adora is off her game, her movements are less precise than usual, a light sheen of sweat is visible on her otherwise perfect face and when Catra gets close enough to throw a few punches, she can hear Adora panting.</p><p> </p><p>For anyone else – anyone normal – this would not be out of the ordinary. Being tired and sweaty after a training session is the order of the day for pretty much all Hoard cadets.</p><p> </p><p>But Catra knows Adora better, knows that she is basically superwoman, knows that she never breaks a sweat during the routine training and definitely knows that the only time she ever gets breathless is when they have to do long distance runs.</p><p> </p><p>So she waits in the changing rooms after practise, waits for Adora to be done with whatever oh so secret information Shadow Weaver has to divulge to her and <em>no one else</em>.</p><p> </p><p>(Not that she’s bitter, of course not, why should she care?)</p><p> </p><p>“Hey Adora.” She says, once the beautiful golden girl is back in the room and it’s just the two of them.</p><p> </p><p>Adora’s golden head whips round, startled, clearly she thought she was alone.</p><p> </p><p>“Catra! Why are you hiding in the shadows?”</p><p> </p><p>Catra smirks and moves into the light.</p><p> </p><p>“I was waiting for you dummy.” She laughs. Adora smiles weakly at her and begins to take her armour off.</p><p> </p><p>As she undoes the buckles, Catra notices her hands are shaking slightly. Warning sign two, Adora never ever shakes.</p><p> </p><p>The words and phrases she could use to ask the question whirl through her mind, she’s never been good at the whole caring and concern thing. Just as she thinks she’s landed on the perfect combination between joking and actual worry, Adora turns to her while wearing only her sports bra and Catra’s mouth goes dry.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you just going to stand there all day?” Adora teases her. Annoyance flares within Catra.</p><p> </p><p>“What’s wrong with you today?” she snaps. Immediate regret floods through her, that was not how she meant it to come out. She was supposed to be softer, kinder, more like Adora.</p><p> </p><p>“What do you mean?” Adora’s nose crinkles, looking at her in confusion.</p><p> </p><p>“Nothing, forget I said anything.” She mutters and stalks out of the changing room, banging the door shut behind her.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The rest of the day finds Catra actively avoiding Adora, although if anyone were to ask her why, she wouldn’t have been able to give a good answer.</p><p> </p><p>When dinner rolls around she’s successfully spent the entire afternoon by herself, apart from when Kyle found her and asked if she wanted to practise combat. Obviously she’d hissed at him and shoved him out of her way.</p><p> </p><p>The dining hall is crowded and noisy as ever, all the cadets sitting in their teams, eating their ration bars - today’s were brown – and discussing the day. The florescent lights hang over each table, flickering and giving the whole room a crowded, unstable quality.</p><p> </p><p>Lonnie and Kyle are providing entertainment for their group tonight as Lonnie berates Kyle for his poor performance during today’s training exercise. If they ever want to graduate and see some action, they all need to pull their weight. Catra pretends like she doesn’t see their eyes flick to her.</p><p> </p><p>No, she’s too busy trying to subtly watch Adora. Warning sign three, she’s pushing her ration bar round her plate, barely touching it. Catra knows Adora, knows how much she loves to eat and how fast her metabolism is. Something is definitely wrong with her today.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you going to eat that?” she asks Adora suddenly, cutting off Kyle’s weak attempts to defend himself.</p><p> </p><p>Adora looks at her for a moment, before pushing her plate towards Catra with a half smile.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s all yours.”</p><p> </p><p>(Catra pretends that the flipping sensation in her stomach has <em>nothing</em> to do with having Adora’s undivided attention for just a second.)</p><p> </p><p>“You not hungry Adora?” Lonnie asks, Adora’s appetite is famed, anyone who’s ever sat near her during meals knows not to get between her and her dinner.</p><p> </p><p>“Not tonight,” she stands, stretching and wincing slightly, “I think I’m just going to turn in, super tired after today, all that training and everything. Well, goodnight everyone!”</p><p> </p><p>Catra’s mouth drops open as they all watch as she practically runs out of the dining hall.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s weird, wonder what’s up with her.”</p><p> </p><p>Later that night, after the lights have gone out in the dorm and the breathing of all the other cadets has turned soft and whisper quiet, Catra sneaks out of her top bunk bed and into Adora’s.</p><p> </p><p>This is such a regular occurrence that Rogelio who sleeps on the bottom bunk next to Adora’s simply sighs and rolls over when he sees Catra climbing down.</p><p> </p><p>“Pssssst Adora,” Catra whispers as she curls up at the bottom of her bed. The only reply is a soft groan from Adora’s end of the bed.</p><p> </p><p>Catra exhales while curling herself up at the foot of the bed, preparing for a nice restful sleep.</p><p> </p><p>Or so she’d thought, but at around 2am it becomes painfully evident that that is not how the night is going to play out.</p><p> </p><p>With an almighty thud Catra finds herself being kicked out of her soft, cosy cocoon she’d made and knocked onto the hard cold floor. Hissing, her guard is immediately up, looking for danger, fight or flight instinct kicking in. Until she realises that it was Adora’s thrashing that made her lose her spot on the bed.</p><p> </p><p>Approaching Adora’s head, she’s horrified to find her shining with sweat, hair sticking to her face and a palpable heat radiating from her. Adora is kicking and moaning and Catra is freaking out.</p><p> </p><p>“Adora, Adora, Adora!” she half whispers, half yells, grabbing her shoulders to try and get through to her.</p><p> </p><p>“Eternia!” Adora cries as she sits bolt upright in bed; for a second Catra swears she sees her clear blue eyes glowing. But then Adora shakes her head and looks around the dark dorm in confusion before her eyes land on Catra.</p><p> </p><p>“Catra…? What happened?” she asks softly, eyes now a hazy blue and a flush on her cheeks.</p><p> </p><p>“You were having a nightmare, kicked me out of bed,” Catra growls, before pausing a moment and asking in a much softer tone, “Are you feeling ok?”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t, I could have sworn-“ Adora breaks off, looking into the distance, mind clearly miles away. Catra sits on the bed next to her, peering in to her face.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m fine.” She says suddenly.</p><p> </p><p>Catra cackles loudly, someone yells ‘Shut up!” from a nearby bed and she stifles her laughter.</p><p> </p><p>Looking scandalised Adora lies back down in her bed, “Catra!” she whispers angrily.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh come on Adora, you’re so not fine.” Catra growls back at her, ears flicking, then she does something brave, she reaches out and puts her hand on Adora’s forehead like she’s seen other cadets do when they’ve been covertly sick. “You’re warmer than usual, that’s a sign of being sick.”</p><p> </p><p>Adora leans in to her hand and closes her eyes for just a moment before leaning away. Catra withdraws her hand quickly and sits on it to make sure it won’t reach out for her again.</p><p> </p><p>“I feel,” she pauses, puts a hand to her head and rubs, “I feel strange, but I’m sure its fine. Nothing sleep won’t fix. Goodnight Catra.”</p><p> </p><p>And with that she rolls over and within a minute her breathing has evened out again.</p><p> </p><p>Catra watches her suspiciously. She knows Adora is sick but won’t admit it, <em>stubborn idiot</em>.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Tomorrow, I’ll watch and wait until she can’t deny it anymore.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>With that thought and a warm feeling in her stomach Catra curls back up and sinks into a deep and dreamless sleep.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The grey morning light awakens Catra slowly, she moves through layers of regaining consciousness like a breeze through the air. Softly, gently, becoming aware of her surroundings.</p><p> </p><p>She is still lying at the foot of Adora’s bed, most of the other cadets are still sleeping, soft snores and the background whir of machinery are the only sounds piercing the peaceful silence.</p><p> </p><p>That is, until Adora starts yelling.</p><p> </p><p>“No! No! Greyskull! Stop! I…Catra no!”</p><p> </p><p>In a flash, Catra is by her head, staring down at her as she continues to writhe around. She needs to do something, anything to stop this, to stop <em>her</em> Adora from hurting.</p><p> </p><p>“Shhh shh, hey Adora, it’s ok, I’m here.”</p><p> </p><p>Her traitorous hands are moving before her brain engages and she finds them stroking Adora’s golden hair, smoothing it and rubbing her head in slow, calming circles.</p><p> </p><p>Lonnie walks past <em>their</em> bed on her way out, looks over her shoulder smirking at Catra, before she disappears round the corner and out of sight.</p><p> </p><p>Catra growls to herself, Lonnie has long since had a crazy idea about Catra and Adora and what they mean to each other.</p><p> </p><p>(<em>She isn’t wrong though</em>, <em>at least not on my end</em>, a secret part of Catra’s heart whispers, before she slams that door.)</p><p> </p><p>Under her nails slightly scratching her scalp, Adora’s breathing has calmed down again. Catra can feel the heat radiating off of her scalp, worse than last night already.</p><p> </p><p>She sighs and looks down at her sleeping friend.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh Adora, what am I going to do with you?” she murmurs.</p><p> </p><p>“Did you saying something?” Adora asks sleepily, one feverishly bright blue eye opening.</p><p> </p><p>Catra feels herself freeze, her face heating up, caught in the act of caring about her.</p><p> </p><p>“Nope,” she says, jumping back, affecting a casualness her racing heart doesn’t feel at all, “Come on, we’ll be late for breakfast.”</p><p> </p><p>Her eyes track as Adora’s usually pale face turns white and then vaguely green.</p><p> </p><p>“You go on ahead, I’m going to take a shower, a nice cool shower, and do absolutely nothing else. And I will definitely be coming then.” She says quickly, in the way she usually does when she’s lying.</p><p> </p><p>Catra wants to protest but her stomach growls loudly; Adora laughs weakly at her.</p><p> </p><p>“Seriously go, eat something before you try and eat Kyle!”</p><p> </p><p>“Ok fine, I’ll see you there.” Catra says walking to the door, pausing just before she leaves the room. She turns to say something witty about how Kyle wouldn’t taste good anyway, but Adora’s head is in her hands.</p><p> </p><p>Worry flashes hot through her entire body, the urge to run back over to her, to force her to lie back down and cover her in blankets is almost overwhelming. Her feet move of their own volition towards her, she has to grab the wall and dig her claws in to stop herself.</p><p> </p><p><em>Not yet, not yet</em>, her brain chants, trying to assuage the guilt and concern she feels. If Adora won’t admit how bad she feels yet, nothing Catra can say or do will convince her otherwise. She has to be patient.</p><p> </p><p>(Catra’s never been a patient woman, especially not where Adora is concerned)</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>She never shows up to breakfast. Lonnie and Rogelio are now audibly giggling as Catra’s head swings round every time the mechanical doors slide open.</p><p> </p><p>Growling, Catra picks up her now empty tray and stalks towards the exit intent on finding Adora and putting an end to this ridiculousness once and for all.</p><p> </p><p>She doesn’t get very far, colliding directly with one of the squadron leaders.</p><p> </p><p>“Ah Cadet Catra, you have been assigned cleaning duties today.” He smirks at her, pointed teeth glittering maliciously, daring her to argue back.</p><p> </p><p>“But I was on cleaning duties last week!” Catra yells, rage hot as molten lava rising within her. This is Shadow Weaver’s doing, she can practically hear her laughing in her ear. Why is she never good enough, why is it always Adora-</p><p> </p><p>“Do you need me to make you?” The squad leader leans in close to her face, “Or better yet, let’s take this matter to Shadow Weaver herself and see what she says.”</p><p> </p><p>They stare each other down for a moment before Catra looks away, down at the disgusting floor.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s what I thought, now be a good kitty and run along.” The sound of the dining hall’s laughter echoes in her ears as she storms out.</p><p> </p><p><em>Fuck the Fright Zone, fuck all of this, fuck all of them</em>, her feet pound to this mantra as she runs to the cleaning supplies cupboard.</p><p> </p><p>Once the door is safely closed behind her she screams. And punches the wall. Her knuckles come away bruised, bleeding and stinging.</p><p> </p><p>Catra takes a couple of deep breaths. Really it could be worse, cleaning is one of the easiest tasks to do, it rarely gets checked at the end of the day, so she can spend most of the day annoying Adora.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Adora.</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>Her feet move, she is running down the corridors to reach the dorm, where is she? Why didn’t she come to breakfast?</p><p> </p><p>The mechanical doors open slowly to reveal an empty dorm room, even Adora’s bed is empty.</p><p> </p><p>Catra stands in the doorway breathing heavily. Where is Adora?</p><p> </p><p>A small sound from nearby is caught by her sensitive ears, they flick back, straining to hear if it could be her.</p><p> </p><p>The sound again, louder this time. She turns around and walks across the dark halfway with its one flickering strip light to the nearby bathroom.</p><p> </p><p>As she walks in, the room has an overwhelming smell of vomit which makes her stomach turn dangerously.</p><p> </p><p>The sounds she heard were retching, Catra follows them to the end stall. The acrid scent of vomit rising up her nose, hitting the back of her throat.</p><p> </p><p>Pushing the door open gingerly with her foot, hand covering her mouth and nose to stave off some of the smell, she sees Adora on her knees, hair dangling over the toilet which she’s vomiting profusely in to.</p><p> </p><p>“Adora.” She gasps, before dropping to her knees next to her. She pulls her perfect golden hair back, away from the toilet bowl and the contents of her stomach; holding it away until Adora seems to be done.</p><p> </p><p>She leans over her and flushes the toilet before critically eyeing Adora.</p><p> </p><p>Sitting on the bathroom floor, head tilted back, she looks worse than Catra’s ever seen her. Her skin is grey-green, her entire body is shaking and her skin is burning hot to the touch.</p><p> </p><p>“Haven’t seen you around before, come here often?” She says lightly, nudging her slightly with her leg.</p><p> </p><p>“Ughhhhh,” Adora moans, putting her head between her legs.</p><p> </p><p>The sight is at once hilarious and terrifying. Strong, beautiful, powerful Adora reduced to this on the bathroom floor. It thrills Catra and sends goosebumps down her arms.</p><p> </p><p>A thought flashes through her head; walking over to the sink suddenly she grabs an empty mug and fills it.</p><p> </p><p>“Here.” Catra passes the mug to Adora, who looks questioningly at her for a moment.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s just water, thought it might help.” Blushing, she looks away.</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you.” Adora rasps out and takes a small sip.</p><p> </p><p>The door bangs open.</p><p> </p><p>“Cadet Adora, Shadow Weaver wishes to see you.” A voice calls out into the echoing bathroom.</p><p> </p><p>Adora groans again and puts her head back between her legs. Another flash of rage fills Catra, she stands up and steps out.</p><p> </p><p>“Adora is a bit busy right now, tell Shadow Weaver she can’t come.” She snaps at the Squad leader. Her arms are folded, leaning against the door, a clear barrier between Adora and the outside world.</p><p> </p><p>The squad leader just glares at Catra. Her hair bristles, she extends her nails, ready to fight for Adora if necessary. But she’s stopped when a clammy hand touches her shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>“Catra, it’s alright, really,” Adora is standing now, holding herself upright by the bathroom door frame.</p><p> </p><p>“Adora no, you can’t be serious.”</p><p> </p><p>“It’ll take five minutes and then I’ll go back to bed,” Catra narrows her hetro-chromatic eyes at her, “I promise.”</p><p> </p><p>“Ugh fine.” She snaps, stepping aside and rolling her eyes.</p><p> </p><p>Adora makes her shaky way to the squadron leader who looks disgusted at the whole affair. Catra’s narrowed eyes follow her out and are still staring after them when the door slides shut.</p><p> </p><p><em>Noble, selfless Adora, what a saint. </em>The bitter voice in her head spits out angrily. She shakes her head and turns around. It’ll be her own death, letting Shadow Weaver see her in such a weakened state.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Catra is definitely <em>not</em> waiting in the dorms for Adora to come back. It’s been almost an hour since she staggered out of the bathroom into the jaws of Shadow Weaver. In that time all Catra has done is pace, destroy one of Kyle’s pillows with her claws and stare at the door.</p><p> </p><p>But she’s not waiting.</p><p> </p><p>The door finally slides open, Catra is on her feet immediately. Her patience is rewarded as Adora appears in the doorway, hanging on to the frame.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey Adora.” Catra says, eyes narrowed, trying to assess how bad she is.</p><p> </p><p>“Heyyyyyy Catra,” she slurs, swinging in to the room. Catra is blindsided, whatever state she had predicted Adora would come back in, this had never crossed her mind.</p><p> </p><p>“What happened to you?” she asks, taking a careful step forward.</p><p> </p><p>“Shadow Weaver made me take some pills, they’re meant to help meeeeee.” She says in a singsong voice before staggering slightly.</p><p> </p><p>Catra is by her in a flash, arms encircling her hot, still too hot, body and keeping her upright.</p><p> </p><p>“Come on, let’s get you into bed.”</p><p> </p><p>“Into our bed,” Adora says in the cutest, sleepiest voice. Catra feels like she’s been punched in the gut. Of course the only time she’d acknowledge it is when she’s high on whatever Shadow Weaver made her take. She doesn’t know what she’s saying or how it makes Catra’s heart skip a beat.</p><p> </p><p>They get to bed and Catra is trying to decide how best to situate her in the bed when Adora flings herself onto it. Catra comes falling down right next to her.</p><p> </p><p>“This is niceeeeee,” Adora murmurs, wiggling around so that her head is on Catra’s shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>Catra can’t breathe, all she can smell is Adora’s floral scent, her warm weight on her shoulder, feeling her snuggle in closer to Catra as though she’s all Adora wants. She wants to scream.</p><p> </p><p>“Adora, what are you doing?” She squeaks in what she hopes sounds like an outraged tone. It does not.</p><p> </p><p>“We’re taking a nap together, duh,” Adora says from where she’s nestled herself in Catra’s arm, “Catra, I don’t feel good.”</p><p> </p><p>Catra’s heart might actually explode. This is the cutest thing that has ever happened to her, she will absolutely be thinking about this moment probably forever.</p><p> </p><p>“I know you don’t,” she finally says after her breathing is under control again and she won’t do anything stupid like profess her undying love for the blonde girl with messy hair and sleepy bedroom eyes looking up at her like she’s the best thing to exist.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Fuck.</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>“Let’s take a nap together then.” Catra finally says, hating her traitor heart for speeding up as she realises that they’re cuddling. If anyone walks in, they’re both dead. She’ll have to stay awake and make sure that doesn’t happen.</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you kitty,” Adora mumbles into her shoulder, already half asleep. She then says something else which sounds far too close to the one thing Catra has been hoping, wishing for her entire life.</p><p> </p><p>Far far too close, leaving Catra paralysed, did beautiful, perfect Adora just say “love you”? Her emotions are going haywire, she can’t move, she can’t speak, she can’t breathe. Did she say that she loved her?</p><p> </p><p>Then Adora lets out a small snore, bringing her back to her senses. Catra shakes her head, no, that’s not what she said. It’s just her imagination. They’re friends and that’s what they’ve always been and always will be.</p><p> </p><p>With this thought making her calm again Catra sinks down into the bed with Adora allowing herself to close her eyes for just a second. She isn’t going to sleep...she’s just resting her eyes briefly...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Well if you made it this far, congratulations!</p><p>In the notes I originally had all sorts of disclaimers and stuff about why I made the stylistic choices I did, but now that I'm rewriting them I don't care so...yeah</p><p>As always, any notes, comments, kudos, constructive criticism and praise (especially praise) is always encouraged and appreciated.</p><p>I haven't written or posted anything in years so this has been a nice blast from the past and I've really enjoyed just word vomiting onto the page. </p><p>Anyways, stick around for chapter 2 and potentially some longer fics with these two because I actually love their dynamic and have a lot of ideas (and a lot of free time ahahahahahah) so yeah we'll see where that takes me.</p><p>Chapter 2 coming tomorrow anyway</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Catra</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Now its Catra's turn to suffer - you're welcome</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Did I sleep last night? Absolutely not.</p><p>Is that relevant to this writing?</p><p>Like probably not but if you see any glaringly obvious mistakes I can only apologise</p><p>Anyways you didn't come here for my weird commentary so on with the story!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The dark sky looms ominously over the little group as they make their way across the open plain; rain lashes against their inadequate waterproof clothing. Adora’s breath puffs out in icy little clouds in front of her as she squints ahead, barely able to see more than 5 feet ahead.</p><p> </p><p>“Adora!” A faint yell somehow manages to reach her ears despite the howling wind; she turns around to see Catra waving at her.</p><p> </p><p>Jogging back over to her, Adora’s boots squelch in the mud. She’s eternally grateful that she managed to requisition a new pair the week before this scouting mission for the Horde.</p><p> </p><p>“What is it Catra?” Her throat strains, yelling to make herself heard over the godforsaken weather.</p><p> </p><p>“There’s some trees over there, we should find shelter. Unless you want us to drown out here!” She hears the muffled response, her human eyes struggling to see what Catra’s superior vision can.</p><p> </p><p>“I can’t see anything but lead the way! Anything has to be better than this!” She shouts back.</p><p> </p><p>Catra gives her what she thinks is a quick smile through the rain blurring her vision before waving her arm to attract Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle’s attention. Adora watches all of them go past her, following Catra to safety, making sure that no one is behind her before she starts moving in the same direction.</p><p> </p><p>The scouting mission hadn’t started out badly, the day had been grey (as usual) as they left the Fright Zone, heading away from the Whispering Woods. Shadow Weaver had instructed Adora to be on the lookout for any unusual princess activity in the lands they already held. The plan had been to head to one of the nearby towns before circling back and covering all the nearby settlements.</p><p> </p><p>Unfortunately this had not gone to plan, the rain had started in the first hour of the trip, light and refreshing at first, but it quickly became heavier and more torrential until now, four hours in, they had little choice but to abandon their initial objective and search for shelter until the storm abated.</p><p> </p><p>Adora thanks her lucky stars for a moment that Catra is on her squad, not just for her visual capabilities – although they certainly help right now – she’s whip smart and able to think on her feet, something the Horde is often in short supply of.</p><p> </p><p>(<em>If Adora’s being honest with herself, she’s grateful for other reasons too which have nothing to do with her abilities as a solider</em>)</p><p> </p><p>The trees begin to loom on the horizon, tall black spires appearing sporadically before turning in to a thick dark mass. A forest, Adora thinks, perfect to shelter in.</p><p> </p><p>“Catra, thank you for finding us this forest.” She says gratefully as soon as they’re all under the cover of the trees. Only occasional raindrops are able to penetrate through the forest’s canopy, thudding dully on the mossy ground.</p><p> </p><p>“Well yeah, just didn’t want to have to swim to the next town.” Catra replies, her words are light and playful but Adora knows her well enough to recognise that she too is relieved to be out of the rain.</p><p> </p><p>Adora examines her team quickly. Rogelio seems to have fared the best, with his thick scales protecting him. Lonnie looks pissed off but not too wet, a couple of hairs are sticking to her forehead. The main worry is Kyle, he looks like he’s been thrown in a lake and dragged out the other side. He’s shivering, dripping wet and looking generally miserable.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you alright Kyle?” Adora asks, placing a hand on his sopping wet shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m-I’m f-fine.” He says, his teeth chattering as if to undermine him. Lonnie and Rogelio smirk, Adora ignores them. In her squad, no man is left behind.</p><p> </p><p>“Lonnie and Rogelio, go find us some wood to build a fire,” She snaps, tired and cold and not at all in the mood for their attitude, “Catra, you and I will set up the tents.”</p><p> </p><p>Lonnie and Rogelio stalk away, muttering under their breath. Probably about her but Adora can’t bring herself to care.</p><p> </p><p>“Wha-what sssshould I d-do?” Kyle asks. Adora gives him a pitying look.</p><p> </p><p>“You find a nice branch to sit on and I’ll bring you a blanket.”</p><p> </p><p>“Thankssss Adora,” he says gratefully and then he sneezes, looking very pathetic.</p><p> </p><p>Rummaging through the packs to find her blanket to give to him, Adora thinks, <em>I can share with Catra tonight at least</em>. Her cheeks flush at the thought of this, but she shakes her head, pushing it away. <em>Not now brain</em>.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey Adora, what you thinking about?” Catra calls from the other side of the clearing. She’s lounging on a tree, not doing anything.</p><p> </p><p>“Nothing,” she replies, a little too quickly, “We have to put the tents up, come on Catra.”</p><p> </p><p>Catra rolls her eyes but gets to work unloading one of the packs. Adora strides across the clearing, handing her blanket to Kyle and making a mental note to requisition a new one as soon as they return to the Fright Zone.</p><p> </p><p>“Some mission this is.” Catra remarks as they’re putting the tents up. Guilt wells up inside Adora, if only she’d thought to check the weather before they’d left, or scheduled the scouting for another day, they never would have gotten in to this mess. It’s all her fault…</p><p> </p><p>“Woah there Adora,” Catra says, interrupting her spiralling thoughts, “You’re looking even more constipated than usual. What’s up?”</p><p> </p><p>Adora tries for a small smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes, “Nothing, I’m fine.” When she does finally manage to look over at Catra, her brow is furrowed, her normally large eyes are slitted.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you ok Catra?” she asks, worry lacing her tone, causing her to drop the tent peg she’s holding as she steps towards her friend.</p><p> </p><p>“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?” she replies quickly and looking out at the rain pouring down over the meadow they’d just been in.</p><p> </p><p>“Ok, well if you’re sure.” Adora says hesitantly. Something is off with Catra, she just can’t put her finger on what it is.</p><p> </p><p>(<em>Maybe the way she’s making Adora’s heart skip a beat every time they make eye contact?)</em></p><p> </p><p>“When am I ever not fine? I can take care of myself.” She smiles at Adora. Her worries temporarily assuaged they return to setting the tents up in companiable silence.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Dinner that night is a sad affair, they only have the brown ration bars which sometimes taste like dirt. Kyle is still shivering constantly, Lonnie is glowering at the fire after she got drenched again while looking for wood, Rogelio has stormed off because his tent has a hole in.</p><p> </p><p>Adora just wants to scream in to a pillow at how badly things have turned out. And to make matters worse, Catra is being quiet, too quiet.</p><p> </p><p>Normally she would be chatting up a storm, cracking jokes about how badly the whole mission had gone and lightening the mood. Instead, she’s staring at the fire, eating her ration bar mechanically and not making eye contact with anyone.</p><p> </p><p>She knows Catra can take care of herself, she knows Catra is every bit as tough as the rest of them. Unfortunately her heart doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo, Adora can feel pangs of concern every time she looks at her best friend’s hunched figure in the firelight.</p><p> </p><p>Adora has to do something, has to say something to break the tension. She feels herself stand, everyone’s eyes immediately turn to her, save for Rogelio who is sulking on the edge of the clearing</p><p> </p><p>“Well everyone, obviously things haven’t worked out quite as planned,” Adora starts, Catra snorts into her plate and Lonnie mutters, “You can say that again.”</p><p> </p><p>She takes a deep breath, continuing as though she hasn’t heard them, “The best course of action is for everyone to get some sleep, and then we’ll look at the weather in the morning and assess the next steps.”</p><p> </p><p>No one says anything, Adora can feel them all hoping that she’ll just call off the mission in the morning. Secretly, she’s hoping for a good enough excuse for them all to head back to the Fright Zone. But without any new information, they’ll all be in trouble for returning.</p><p> </p><p>“Everyone get some sleep, we’ll do watches to make sure the princesses don’t attack. Kyle, you go first, then Lonnie, Catra, I’ll go and finally Rogelio.”</p><p> </p><p>Putting Kyle first is a small kindness he deserves, he’ll be able to sleep for more of the night than the rest of them and hopefully won’t have come down with something by tomorrow.</p><p> </p><p>Lonnie walks away from the fire first to her tent, Rogelio walks over to Kyle and they agree to share Kyle’s intact tent for the night. Before long, Catra and Adora are the only ones left by the fire.</p><p> </p><p>“Um, Catra,” Adora starts, blushing slightly and rubbing the back of her neck, “Could we share a blanket tonight? I gave mine to Kyle earlier.”</p><p> </p><p>“Always so noble Adora.” Catra laughs slightly and stands, gesturing to their tent.</p><p> </p><p>Adora crawls in first, shivering slightly already. She’s incredibly grateful for the body heat they’ll be sharing tonight.</p><p> </p><p><em>You know you’re grateful for more than just that. </em>The uninvited thought creeps in to her head before she can banish it. Now she’s glad the lighting is poor enough that Catra probably can’t see her blushing.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you blushing?”</p><p> </p><p>Or not.</p><p> </p><p>“I-no, it’s just warm in here.” Adora mutters, turning away from her to hide her scarlet face.</p><p> </p><p>“You’re warm? I’m freezing!” Catra exclaims and wriggles underneath the tiny blanket they have to share.</p><p> </p><p>Hesitating, Adora looks down at her. They’ve shared a bed before, hell they share a bed every night. But this feels different, much more intimate than having Catra sleep at the foot of her bed. Their faces would be right next to each other, their bodies pressed against each other, their-</p><p> </p><p>“Adoraaaaaa,” Catra whines, “Get in, I’m freezing.”</p><p> </p><p>“Fine, fine.” Adora says, shaking her head to banish any wayward thoughts, before climbing in next to her, keeping her mind perfectly blank.</p><p> </p><p>For a few minutes she lies there, still as a rod, unwilling to mould her body to her warm one next to her. But as sleep begins to creep in, she feels herself curling in to Catra, their legs entwining.</p><p> </p><p>Adora listens to her breathing even out, a slight snore coming from the girl next to her. The last thought she has before the darkness engulfs her is that she can’t remember Catra ever snoring before.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The morning light wakes Adora. She is alone in the tent, freezing and her neck aches from sleeping on the hard ground. Disoriented she looks around, where is Catra? Surely it must be time for her watch now?</p><p> </p><p>Checking the time, she gasps; it’s already 8am. Catra hadn’t woken her for her watch! Did something happen in the night?</p><p> </p><p>Adora grabs her shoes and coat, cursing herself for not assigning groups of two for the watches, what was she thinking? What if the princesses attacked? Did they get Catra?</p><p> </p><p>She stumbles out of the tent, blinking rapidly as her eyes adjust to the brightness. The woods are silent, but nearby she can hear the rain falling.</p><p> </p><p>“Catra! Catra, where are you?” she calls out, voice tinged with panic.</p><p> </p><p>“Damn Adora, didn’t know you cared,” A raspy voice calls out from above. Adora looks up so fast she hears her neck crack.</p><p> </p><p>High up in the trees, Catra is perched, clearly still in lookout position. Although Adora doesn’t have as good eyesight as her, she can see that she looks paler than usual, dark rings under her eyes.</p><p> </p><p>“Catra come here!” she shouts up at her. She makes her way down the tree slowly, deliberately, as though she’s afraid to put a foot wrong.</p><p> </p><p>“Why didn’t you wake me up?” Adora yells the second she’s sure Catra won’t fall to her death from the tree.</p><p> </p><p>Catra mumbles something under her breath and looks away, ears lying flat against her big hair. She looks even worse up close..</p><p> </p><p>“What did you say?” she asks.</p><p> </p><p>“I said, you looked like shit yesterday,” Catra snaps back, “Clearly you must have been really tired yesterday to screw up the mission so badly.”</p><p> </p><p>Adora steps back, hurt. Quickly, she regains her composure and says in a dry tone, “As your force captain I acted in the best interests of the Horde and my team. The weather was an unfortunate variable.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah whatever.”</p><p> </p><p>Thousands of questions are spinning through Adora’s head. How can she blame this on me? Why is she being so aggressive? Is she mad at me? But as the whirring thoughts begin to slow down, she notices that Catra’s eyes have gone hazy, her nose is twitching and her breathing has become irregular.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Hnxxt</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>Catra’s head jolts forward as she attempts to suppress her small sneeze. She wipes her finger under her nose quickly, makes eye contact with Adora and looks away very quickly.</p><p> </p><p>Oh, Adora thinks. She’s sick.</p><p> </p><p>“Catra, are you ok?” she asks stepping back towards her, arm reaching out for her.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m fine! Just want this stupid mission to be over so we can get back to the Fright Zone already.” She replies angrily before storming off, out of Adora’s reach.</p><p> </p><p>During their exchange, the rest of the team have been roused from their tents and are now standing nearby, pretending not that they haven’t just overheard the whole thing. Kyle has even climbed onto a tree branch to try and avoid the confrontation.</p><p> </p><p>“Right,” Adora says, reluctantly turning away from Catra, “It’s still raining, but we should return with some information otherwise Shadow Weaver will be very unhappy. And none of us want to get on her bad side, so we should contin-“</p><p> </p><p>An almighty crash and a yelp alerts them all to the fact that Kyle has fallen off of the tree he was perched on. Adora runs over to him, he’s lying on the ground, holding his ankle which is already swelling up into a nasty purple lump.</p><p> </p><p>“Never mind,” Adora sighs, “I guess it’s our lucky day, we’re going back.”</p><p> </p><p>The team, minus Kyle, make quick work packing up the camp. Adora is already trying to formulate her reply to Shadow Weaver when she’s asked why they returned 3 days before they had planned. She sighs, the rest of the march home looms in front of her and more than anything she wishes she could teleport them all back.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Marching back through the rain is worse than it had been yesterday, somehow made more bleak by the fact that Kyle is now on Rogelio’s back and moaning softly, Lonnie is complaining about everything and Catra won’t make eye contact with Adora.</p><p> </p><p><em>Fantastic</em>, she thinks grumpily, <em>best trip ever</em>.</p><p> </p><p>More concerning than the terrible mood everyone is in, is that Adora can hear near constant sniffling coming from Catra.</p><p> </p><p>Once or twice she sneaks a look at her, most of the time she’s just walking, staring straight ahead, rain dripping off of her hood. Just once though, Adora is quick enough to catch her stifling another sneeze.</p><p> </p><p>Concern, and an overwhelming desire to take care of her flare in equal measure in Adora’s chest. She allows them to sit there for a moment, just one moment where she imagines Catra opening herself up to allow her to take care of her. She shakes her head to dispell them. In the 19 years she’s known Catra, she has never allowed Adora, or anyone for that matter, to take care of her willingly.</p><p> </p><p>By the time they reach the Fright Zone Catra is walking noticeably slower than the other members of them team, even lagging behind Rogelio carrying Kyle’s dead weight.</p><p> </p><p>Adora is making a mental plan for when they get in, Rogelio will take Kyle to the infirmary, Lonnie will take the equipment back to the store cupboards, she will go see Shadow Weaver personally and Catra will be free to go hide until she feels well enough to talk to people again.</p><p> </p><p>Everything goes smoothly right up until Adora leaves to meet Shadow Weaver, Catra stays by her side when she’d been expecting her to disappear as soon as possible.</p><p> </p><p>“What are you doing?” Adora asks her outside of Shadow Weaver’s chambers, giving her a chance to come to her senses, to run, to hide.</p><p> </p><p>“What does it look like I’m doing?” Catra sniffles, “I’m coming with you.”</p><p> </p><p>Overwhelmed with emotion, Adora could cry. Instead she settles for lightly punching her in the shoulder – <em>why can she never express her emotions like a goddam human?</em> – and she knocks on the door.</p><p> </p><p>It slides open, they enter together; Adora leads the way, head held high, prepared to take whatever Shadow Weaver throws at her.</p><p> </p><p>Luckily for them both, Hordak seems to have given Shadow Weaver a very important secret task to focus on instead of them. Adora almost makes it the entire way through her explanation of why they had to return sooner than planned without a hitch until she hears a sound behind her.</p><p> </p><p>Catra seems to have choked on something, her coughing soft at first, gets harsher and louder, echoing off of the metal walls.</p><p> </p><p>Shadow Weaver chuckles malevolently, “Always the weak one, aren’t you Catra?”</p><p> </p><p>Adora bristles, how dare she say that about Catra? Why couldn’t she see how hard Catra works, why would she never give Catra the same recognition she gave to Adora?</p><p> </p><p>“Shadow Weaver,” Adora says, stepping forward to intercede on Catra’s behalf, but Shadow Weaver cuts her off before she can say anything more with a simple, “You’re dismissed.”</p><p> </p><p>Not needing to be told twice, Adora wheels around and grabs Catra’s arm, dragging them both out in the relative safety of the hallway.</p><p> </p><p>Catra immediately attempts to escape, normally she’s much quicker than Adora, but her body isn’t exactly working with her right now; Adora grabs her arm with ease and refuses to let go.</p><p> </p><p>“Adora!” she splutters, “Let go!” In a truly pitiful attempt, she bats at Adora’s arm, as Adora stands there, unfased.</p><p> </p><p>After a couple of futile attempts Catra is out of breath and coughing again.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you done?” Adora asks her sharply. She doesn’t reply, just looks at the ground in defeat.</p><p> </p><p>Pulling her along the corridor back to their dorm proves to be more difficult than Adora had anticipated. Not because Catra is fighting her, but because her body seems to have finally given up. Every other step she stumbles, so unlike her usual feline grace, she’s sniffling constantly and has resorted to wiping her nose with the back of her hand.</p><p> </p><p>Adora would be disgusted if she didn’t find her ridiculously endearing.</p><p> </p><p>“You know, if you’d just told me you felt sick earlier…” she says in a singsong voice as they round the final corner to their dorm.</p><p> </p><p>“Shud up.” Catra growls, realising even her voice is dulled now she sniffs again, it makes a horrifying wet sound.</p><p> </p><p>“Come on, into bed with you.” Adora says, pushing Catra into her own bed.</p><p> </p><p>“This is-why amb I ib your bed?” Catra looks up at her with glassy eyes.</p><p> </p><p>Adora freezes. In truth she hadn’t even considered putting Catra anywhere else, it seemed only right that she should stay with Adora while she was sick.</p><p> </p><p>“Well that’s because-“ frantically searching for a good excuse Adora lands on, “your bed is all the way up there, I don’t think you’re in any fit state to get up there right now! Yeah, that is the reason why you are down here…in my bed.”</p><p> </p><p>Catra tilts her head at Adora questioning, for a moment Adora thinks she’s ruined everything, exposed herself and she doesn’t feel the same way. But then Catra crawls in to her bed and pulls the cover up to her chin, coughing weakly into the blanket.</p><p> </p><p>Seeing Catra curled up, under her blanket with only her face poking out makes Adora’s heart sing. It’s too much for her, she turns away and is about to leave when she feels a small hand grab her wrist.</p><p> </p><p>“Abora,” Catra mutters, “please, please spay.”</p><p> </p><p>If her heart was full before, it has literally exploded everywhere now. And everyone is covered in her heart’s guts and very obvious feelings for the girl lying in her bed, asking her to stay with her.</p><p> </p><p>Adora has no words, there is nothing she can say. So she does the only thing she’s capable of in that moment, and slides in to bed with Catra. Then, taking a deep breath, she does what she was not brave enough to do last night, she pulls her close to her chest so that she’s cuddling her.</p><p> </p><p>“Two nighbs in a row ‘gether,” Catra says as she shifts slightly, moving closer to Adora’s body, “Bedder nod bake a habid of id.”</p><p> </p><p>“Go to sleep, you sound awful.” She replies fondly.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes mum.”</p><p> </p><p>Adora hears her sigh softly, her breathing relaxes and she starts to snore; leaving Adora alone in the darkness with nothing but her swirling, overwhelming emotions to contend with.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Well I wrote all of this yesterday instead of sleeping so that was a wild ride.</p><p>Like I said in my previous author's note, comments or anything you can bring yourself to write to me are always appreciated.</p><p>Also if you have any story ideas you'd like to see played out between these two, please do let me know. Now that I've let the muse out, she ain't going back in easy.</p><p>Well its been real, thanks for reading this word vomit, see you soon</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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